A Mental Health Activist’s Moral Dilemma ……

Disclaimer: NOTHING that I say or anyone on the internet should replace in person intervention, for people in crisis. If you or someone you observe, is in medical or mental health CRISIS, please call 911 and/or seek emergency treatment from a clinically trained professional and/or acute care facility. IMMEDIATELY…….

I don’t go online on Fridays. It bears repeating, because while I have not missed one “Facebook Hoax” post, I managed to miss the following in the news, when I was offline. The following link below just showed up in my newsfeed.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/01/05/charges-man-shot-officers-with-bb-gun-tried-to-commit-suicide-by-cop/

FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!!

What I want to say as a person, sometimes varies quite drastically is DIFFERENT, than what I have as a responsibility, as a Mental Health activist. Or a Human Rights Activist, which identify more, now as.

My very first thought was, would this man be alive if he would’ve been black? And to my horror, truthfully most of us would think, NO. Including myself.

I have nothing though, but the utmost respect for law enforcement officers, for the most part, OVERALL.  Especially in the Twin Cities, where I live. My fear with the tensions being high on matters such as race, as I’ve said in my #blurredlines  blog is that the biggest threat to a black person’s life is by another black person, statistically. Not a police officer. I’m not discounting prejudice though that black people face on a daily basis. I’m also  NOT saying there isn’t bad police officers, because there is. I just have an ability to see more than one side, because I’m in the minority, where I live. As well as what my life experiences have taught me.

My concern about this is multi-fold. Whether innocent people are actually dying or being put on trial by social media. Regardless of color, mental health barriers and profession.  And whether or not more law enforcement officers are going to die, because sometimes, they literally have a matter of seconds on making a decision, that’s a matter of life or/death for them or someone else and more police officers will die, if they have to over analyze a decision that they are faced with on a daily basis.

My FIRST reaction was not as an activist. Whether it be race or mental health.  It was “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS MAN THINKING???”. “Does he realize how bad race and police tensions are RIGHT now???”

I, as a person with my own barriers, may believe one thing. But what I learned is that I have to,  as an activist, really hope that he did NOT know any better then the limitations that his own mental health illness, caused him to do an irrational act without thinking of ALL the consequences. Not only for himself. But for other people. I have been guilty of doing this. As it applies to  my OWN  life. But not a matter of life or death consequences for ANYONE else. Or where anyone else was physically harmed.

That’s where the moral dilemma comes in. In my Mental Health activism. I, somewhat, hit a wall, in those who have mental health issues that are a matter of life and death, not ONLY for themselves but for OTHERS.

I will write another blog specific to what I think in the most basic terms, of possible solutions that we need to entertain as a society when dealing with those who kill. Whether it’s impulsively or great consideration of planning was utilized. I’d rather NOT  be doing this, but until I see a major initiative by clinical professionals, I have to DO something.

AND we can’t wait any longer to do interventions on people, regardless of their barriers, who don’t realize that EVERYONE has the right to a peaceful enjoyment of one’s life. That NO ONE has the right to take that away from another. That while people’s mental illness can cause the loss of their OWN life, it cannot lead to a loss of ANOTHER person’s life. I have to admit, that I DO NOT want to be the mental health activist who saves the life of someone who decides NOT to commit suicide for them to kill another human being.

But sometimes as humans, the peaceful, has come later, we have to prevent all these senseless murders from happening, before going any further….. NOW!!!

Because how many more people have to die, until we do something about this???

Note: Hateful comments will not be published. I know the difference and can handle constructive criticism. Destructive criticism, feel free to do what other haters do and find my personal email address…

#BlurredLines

***I ask if you choose to read this blog, that you read the whole thing. And if you are a new reader not familiar with me, that you do not penalize me for my cognitive disabilities that prevent me from writing well, as a disabled blogger and making an inaccurate assumption, that I’m not capable of intelligent thought, as a result.

That says more about YOUR bias, then it says about MY abilities, lack of them and barriers, which I’m fully aware of them.***

*** And NO, this blog is not in reference to the Robin Thicke “ditty” that’s been viewed on You Tube about 350 million times, well not directly***

I, unlike most people on social media have not commented on Ferguson. AT ALL. Not that I haven’t had an opinion, it’s just not a popular one. That’s about to change with this blog, though. I’m finally chiming in, but I’m sure that what I have to say will offend many. Hopefully people will understand that it’s my intention to help, not hurt anyone.

While I have a tendency on my blog to stick to medical, mental health, body diversity and anti-bullying activism, I find on social media and within myself, transitioning into being more into overall human rights. Meaning, I don’t believe in prejudicial words and/or hateful words and action being thrown on anyone due to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, size, or physical and mental health disability. And as a disabled activist, try to use WORDS for greater good, for people.

In my case, the single person I spend the most time with in my life and offline, is NOT on social media. AT ALL. Doesn’t like Facebook, Twitter or any other forms of social media. It happens to be that would be my boyfriend of 3 years. I don’t talk about him very much on Facebook (which is the preferred social media venue of my choice) too much and I’m not Twitter, a whole heck of a lot.  And this is the first time I’ve mentioned him on my blog, because while  I’m not a famous activist, I’m quite a public one of what I’ve chosen to divulge of my life and leave it to me, to find the most private person on the planet and be in a relationship with them. I’m digressing but I’ll make my point, sooner or later. As this very tidbit has relevance in a point I’m trying to make and one that I have both subtly and not so subtly since I’ve started blogging, and way before as just an activist on social media.

BUT… Because I am disabled and spend most of the time alone, when I actually see my boyfriend, it will take me 90 million words and updates about current events and what I feel about how everything on social media is newsworthy, usually for about 2 seconds. And things that should NOT be not so newsworthy (i.e. Robin Williams’s death and all the personal and media speculation in the last 3 1/2 months since then) that’s a huge invasion of privacy, people can’t shut up about. I can’t shut up about that people are getting “tried on social media” and it’s definitely, a trial by fire, while metaphorically, it probably mentally isn’t much less painful.

This is what I have to say about Ferguson. It could have happened ANYWHERE. That fact most people get. What most people don’t get that it’s not a race issue. It’s a RAGE issue. And this is what’s REALLY pissing me off about the whole matter. (I can’t and won’t comment or even hold an opinion about either Officer Darren Wilson or Michael Brown. Was not there. Anything else would be speculation)

Before anyone even thinks to say back to me, “well you’re not black”. No, I’m not. HOWEVER…I am an unattractive, poor, white, fat, JEWISH, medically and mentally disabled female who lives in an area of Downtown Minneapolis where I’m in the minority, in multiple ways. I have an idea of what it’s like to be profiled and be subjected to constant prejudice. My whole entire life.Just not by the local police. But pretty much by EVERYONE else.

This needs to be said as an activist and I’m choosing my words VERY carefully. I do get that black people are profiled and experience a ton of bigotry and I find it revolting.  There’s NO “but” in that last statement. However the biggest threat to someone’s who’s black, their lives,livelihoods  and their safety is NOT the police, it’s unfortunately another black person. Black lives DO matter. So do white,native american, mentally ill,  gay, Muslim, fat people’s and thin peoeples lives. ALL OUR LIVES MATTER. Let’s not go into whether or not people have a choice in being who they are. And hating on them or subjecting them to so much hate. That’s most of the world’s problem, right now in the digital age. We are failing to see people as human beings. Instead we see stories that we either relate to or we don’t. And then we judge harshly. People are losing the ability to differentiate that people are human beings in the digital age.

Until most of the world understands that people are people, that RAGE, INDIFFERENCE and a lack of EMPATHY, is what’s killing lot’s of people, nowadays and finding ways to reach people who are capable of violent harm, and intervene, evaluate and treat those people, not much is going to change. We STILL  are going to keep getting in our newsfeeds stories about parents killing kids,kids killing their parents, kids still getting shot and killed at schools, people getting shot and killed at their workplaces and shopping malls or in front of or in their homes, getting in a fatal car accident on their way home from work and people running over a pedestrian because they are busy multitasking while operating an automobile and another kid is going to commit suicide from being bullied for being too fat and or will die of anorexia and another child dies from cancer. THIS HAPPENS EVERYDAY!!! Where is everyone’s self righteous indignation for all of that??? Where’s the peaceful protesting for all of that??? Seriously, what the FUCK is wrong with everyone???? Where are the initiatives we so badly need now in our society so this finally stops becoming so commonplace in our daily lives, so most choose to ignore it???

We unfortunately, BADLY  need initiatives in this day and age, that people’s actions and words when hateful have consequence on people’s lives, to prevent this from happening over and over again. Whether it’s impulsive or planned. No loved one or stranger has the right to harm another physically or mentally. Unless it’s in self defense, which some of this is about. But if you’ve never experienced rage from a stranger, and I can’t say that’s what or what DID NOT happen here, you would realize that rage in itself is deadly. No OTHER weapon is needed, but others who are capable of rage, anything other than their bare hands can and will be used as a weapon, ONLY to insure loss of life.

So what is this  reclusive and disabled blogger, is asking of everyone, this Thanksgiving Eve in 2014??? Start seeing people as people. Not playthings or something for you to judge harshly for you to make yourself feel better. Realize all the outrage you show for Ferguson won’t matter on social media, if you are texting and driving pissed off to get your 8 year old a new I6 phone and if it requires shoving and pushing others or just giving them a dirty look, you aren’t the saint you think you are on this “Black Friday”. If you carry bias and hate about one classification of people, but not another, that isn’t your “Get Out Hell” free card. Stuff that is American specific is why third world countries laugh at Americans, justifiably so. We live in the world’s greatest nation, for the most part and we are the most ungrateful hypocritical people on the planet.

So if you want to change the world in a positive way, that’s great. Start with Ferguson, just don’t END there. Positively and peacefully advocate for a more peaceful non hateful world and  life for EVERYONE…..

Because either you believe ALL LIVES MATTER or you don’t…. Period…  (and note, I don’t have empathy for people who are violent)